It it's upside down, it's probably a nuthatch....

I spent about an hour watching this little bird go back and forth getting seeds from the wire feeder. In all that time, I think I only got 3-4 shots where it right side up. Nuthatches just LIKE standing on their heads! Makes you wonder how the world looks to them.

(These are taken through a window at a slant, so they are not as sharp as I wish.) I like when they cantilever out like this....so graceful looking.
Hey....it's sideways for a change!

I tried to include back views as well as sides and fronts.

They make it look so natural :-)

"Doesn't everyone stand like this??"

I like the colorful section under the tail....rusty colored.

"Here's looking at ya!"

"Hmmm...which seed looks best?"

Some times when they come to my wooden feeders, they get real picky and start throwing out all the seeds that don't meet their approval. I'm not sure what their criteria in choosing is, but I do notice that they almost always grab a seed by the fat end of the seed.

Still looking

"Ah, ha! Perfect!"

"Oops....better latch on to this one tighter before it gets away!"

"Please keep this feeder full. I like this type of feeder...so easy for hanging around"

SkyWatch Friday.....

It's SkyWatch Friday and I actually have a couple of sky photos. My sky has been so dull....just blue and no clouds that I haven't been taking any photos. Hopping into fall?

This was an "accidental" sky shot :-)

This little grasshopper is actually sitting on our windshield, but I thought it was funny looking, "hopping" over the little cloud.

He was very persistent :-)
We ended up with two of them inside the car and had to shoo them out along the way.


Another last bit of sky over one of the lakes at Blue Grass.
Hope you have a great Sky day! Thanks to the SkyWatch team for continuing this meme and click on the icon on my sidebar for more great skies from around the world.

Not much to offer....

I'm having a lot of pain in one knee at the moment and am not getting out to walk and take photos. These are just a few shots from home, so you will know that I'm still alive....if not kicking :-) I may not post much in the next few days. I can see the railing from my chair and can shoot a few shots if the light is right. This young female cardinal is hanging around and not as "spooky" as the older cardinals.
I think she was having balancing problems :-)

Could only see part of this one....I think it is one of my bald ones that is getting his new head feathers....thankfully!

The other night the little "stinkers" were out front again. This is the one with the most white.....

.....and here is the mostly black one. What a difference in the two! That leaf shadow makes it look a bit confusing :-)

Yellow, yellow, lots of yellow.....

Everything I saw today seemed to be on yellow flowers....lots of yellow flowers!Some of you see Fritillaries all the time, but I think this is the first one I've photographed this year. It is a Variegated Fritillary!
Every flower seemed to have both bugs and butterflies :-)

The side view.

Some black bugs.....I do not know bug names.

In the middle of the tall grasses of the meadow, there was a large patch of these yellow flowers....some sort of sunflower. They were attracting lots of things.

One of the tallest ones had this light colored skipper.

A different skipper. I always like those big dark eyes they have.

The light one again.

A very torn up Buckeye.

A Buckeye and two of the light colored skippers.

I think this is the Little Yellow sulphur butterfly with a wasp friend. I don't usually get to see inside the sulphurs, so was glad to catch this one with it's wings partly open.

Very torn up Eastern tailed Blue. I like how the blue color inside shows at the tear.

That nasty looking wasp again. I thought the orange band was interesting.

Just to give you some relief from all the yellow....a bunch of some sort of web worms. Moth caterpillars, I'm sure.

odds and ends....

This is a hodge-podge of left overs from last week, since I haven't got anything new.Yellow caterpillar

We saw three different caterpillars at the wetlands last time, and I think they are all for moths.

Orange caterpillar

Didn't get very good shot, but I'd said he is a hungry caterpillar :-)

Just one of the yellow flowers still blooming and a couple bugs.


At home, I had a Gray Hairstreak spend two days on my Sedum, so I continue my quest for better photos.

It is very friendly....let me sit on the ground next to the plant. I even touched it several times trying to get it to open its wings for me. Apparently that isn't the magic that makes them do it.

I like all his little stripped bits...antennae and legs. Sort of a little zebra with wings :-)

Trying to look at its face.

Incoming! Clear the runway!

Almost open!

Open....and out of focus :-(

It really isn't very interesting inside after all that waiting.

One of the "black and white kitties" that come at night looking for left-over seeds. While Mike tried to keep our three cats from dashing out to play with it, I quickly opened the door and got a shot of one of our visiting skunks. There is a smaller darker one that always runs away. This one has a lot of beautiful white fur with just a tiny bit of black down the middle of the back. I guess I should feel lucky to see a live skunk, since most of the ones I see are dead on the road somewhere. They are beautiful animals if they just didn't have that little "odor" problem.